Refinances Down 3.1% While Purchases Up 6.3%

The Mortgage Bankers Association recently put out their weekly application survey which indicated that the Refinance Index for the week ending September 3, 2010 dropped 3.1% from the previous week while the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 6.3% from one week earlier.

Michael Fratantoni, the MBA's VP of Research and Economics stated that "purchase applications increased last week, reaching the highest level since the end of May.  However, purchase activity remains well below levels seen prior to the expiration of the homebuyer tax credit, and is almost 40 percent below the level recorded one year ago." 


The report indicated that the refinance portion of mortgage activity still represented over 81% percent of all total applications. 30 year fixed mortgage rates edged slightly higher from 4.50% (.87 pt) from 4.43% (1.24%) the preceding week while 15 year fixed mortgage rates increased from 4.00 (.87 pt) from 3.88% (1.45%).


You can read the rest of the report here.